Natural language processing (NLP) is the application of automated parsing and machine learning techniques to analyze standard text. In requirements engineering, NLP can be used to extract ontologies from a requirements specification and verify the consistency and/or completion of a requirements specification. The winning paper is a “work in progress,” describing a new approach to the interpretation, organization and management of textual requirements through the use of application-specific ontologies and natural language processing. It also includes the design of a prototype software tool that implements the new framework on a simplified model of an aircraft.

Austin recalls the genesis of the paper: “Andres worked on this idea in our MSSE classes ENSE 622 and 623 in 2013 and wrapped things up with a scholarly paper in early 2014, prior to his graduation. (He is now living and working in Santiago, Chile.) Edward Carney picked up on the project last semester in ENSE 623 and hopes to further the work in the coming months. I am personally very happy that we can present our students’ work at conferences like ICONS.”